Guillem Balague has named four players new Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta “will try to get” this summer and revealed the club’s three reasons for appointing the Italian.
Berta was officially announced as the Gunners’ new sporting director this week, replacing Edu, who left the club to work under Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis in November.
And reports have suggested the former Atletico Madrid chief will have £300m to spend in what will be a big summer of transfer activity for Arsenal.
Balague explained why Berta was identified as the right man to replace Edu having helped Atletico to consistently compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga and to qualify for the Champions League in each of his eight seasons at the club.
“You have to say that he was the architect of the Atletico Madrid that won the league twice, got to the Champions League final twice, won the Europa League,” Balague told TNT Sports.
“That’s him working alongside Simeone in a very discreet way. He doesn’t give interviews, doesn’t give press conferences.
“We don’t know personally much about him, but certainly he’s a top negotiator and considered one of the best in the business.
“They went for him because he wants to create, alongside Mikel Arteta, a winning culture.
“This is a guy that’s done very well in the context of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
“They have more money and yet he managed to get that extra bit that Arsenal doesn’t seem to get.
“So he’s been described to me by one of the decision makers, one of the ones that decided to bring him in, that he’s experienced, he’s a hard worker and he’s very brave.
“But basically, he’s going to have to be creative as well. Arsenal are not here with the intention of spending £200 or £300 million.
“They just want to be creative with what they’ve got and what they bring in.”
Arteta confirmed earlier this week that this summer is going to be “a big one” for Arsenal and Balague named four players he knows Berta “will try to get”.
“With the restrictions of financial fair play, both in Europe, which is more restrictive than the Premier League, they’re going to have to think of five replacements for the players that are either leaving or finishing their contract,” said Balague.
“And they’re going to have to create three or four players that go straight into the line-up. I would say a left winger, centre-forward and holding midfielder.
“We heard the names: Martin Zubimendi, [Viktor] Gyokeres perhaps, certainly [Benjamin] Sesko or Nico Williams. Those are the names they will try to get.
“But they don’t have a huge amount of money that they can use, so they’re going to have to sell as well.
“Mikel Arteta said it; it’s the biggest transfer window for a long while and having Berta next to him as a partnership with him, will definitely help.”